Ashes and Diamonds is the last film in the trilogy that began Andrzej Wajda's career as a director. Preceding this wartime drama are Pokolenie (1954) and Kanal (1956). Once again, Wajda presents a strong anti-war statement, this time in the personae of two men who are given orders on the last day of World War II in/i>/i>/a>/em>

Overview

Ashes and Diamonds is the last film in the trilogy that began Andrzej Wajda's career as a director. Preceding this wartime drama are Pokolenie (1954) and Kanal (1956). Once again, Wajda presents a strong anti-war statement, this time in the personae of two men who are given orders on the last day of World War II in Poland to murder a leading communist. The orders come from the part of the Resistance that opposes the new communist regime. One of Wajda's favorite performers and a friend, Zbigniew Cybulski plays the man who eventually pulls the trigger and kills the communist leader. And the results are not what he expected. In 1959, Popiol I Diament won in competition at the British Academy Awards and at the Venice Film Festival.

Advertising

Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - Steve Futterman

Living in our current DVD era, when the availability of international film classics is taken for granted, it’s sobering to consider a time -- not so long ago -- when foreign films were a prized commodity. Here’s where we must tip our hats to Janus Films. Formed in 1956, Janus pioneered foreign-film distribution in the United States, bringing the films of such auteurs as Jean Renoir, Sergei Eisenstein, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman, and countless others to American viewers. We have this intrepid company to thank for practically establishing the basic canon of great international cinema. A landmark enterprise deserves a landmark box set, and Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films fits the bill perfectly. The 50 featured films are each uncontested masterpieces; a random sampling draws such, well, essential titles as Grand Illusion, Seven Samurai, Knife in the Water, The Third Man, Wild Strawberries, Forbidden Games, Umberto D., Loves of a Blonde, M, The 39 Steps, Jules and Jim, La Strada, and L'avventura. The stylistic range is panoramic, from classics of the 1930s and '40s to signposts of modernist cinema in the '50s and '60s. Essential Art House is more than a perfect primer for those coming anew to international cinema. It is, simply, a cornerstone for any true film lover’s collection. A hardcover coffee-table-sized companion book -- including notes on each film -- and the fabric-coated slipcase only add to the set’s indispensable nature.

Wild Strawberries(1957), directed by Ingmar Bergman.
The set also includes three Saul J. Turell documentaries: The Great Chase (1962); The Love Goddesses (1965); and Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (1979).

Product Details

Release Date:

10/24/2006

UPC:

0715515021227

Rating:

NR

Source:

Criterion

Region Code:

1

Time:

89:07:00

Sales rank:

13,074

Special Features

This expansive collectors’ set features 50 films on DVD and a lavishly illustrated hardcover book that tells the story of Janus Films through an essay by film historian Peter Cowie, a tribute from Martin Scorsese, and notes on each of the fifty films. An elegant, fabric-covered slip case holds two volumes -- the book, and the DVD binder.